Well laid out. Good variety of shot shapes. Trails and course maintenance is tops. Good use of available terrain.

Can be exposed to the wind and the heat during summer.

I'm not active on this site. Kinda just a lurker. But this course in Carson City is crazy special and I just had to cast my vote. The last review hits most the points. The club here is insane! The trails, the stone work, the details, the design and course flow are all over the top and without compare. They made the absolute best from a desert landscape using the features available. Tons of elevation without being a hard hike because of the trails and signs. Played a few times now. So many different shots and distances! And each time I have played there have been new basket placements. Most have legit 'greens' that make attractive 'targets'. some are great island holes with smart and beautifully built drop zones! (I'm including the pony express 9-hole course and it's island holes 'cause' it's a perfect and super fun beginner and warm up course manicured to the 9's perfect for doing loops) Played this weekend in crazy nice february weather. As far as design, construction and maintenance nothing comes close. I haven't played a ton of courses but this beats anything in this area by far. Must play if in the area.

I've played the Stadium Course at Carson Ridge (in Carson City, Nv), and the Pony Express short course at least 5X now. In different layouts and different conditions. There's a certain threshold where the wind gets to be too much to enjoy a round at all. Maybe 20mph+. But with lower winds it really challenges your game and your strategy. This course and whole complex actually is just a different animal when it comes to course design and construction. The more you play, the more you discover the details. So much to digest! I've stalled on writing this review to soak it all in and take the time to write a review that it deserves.

PROS

+ LEVEL of CARE. By far the most attention to detail with landscaping and upkeep at any course I have ever played or seen, and it keeps getting better!
+ SETTING. Carson City? Yes, it's in Carson City. You can't really tell this is a special disc golf course until you arrive at the parking lot (more on that below). It's on the way to the city dump and the rifle range. From the roads off of highway 50 the land doesn't look like anything special. When you are playing the course the views of surrounding mountain ranges keeps changing and can be very dramatic! You don't even really notice the dump or rifle range and the views of Carson City from above, across the valley are dramatic too, especially with fall color. Tons of elevation and super cool natural rock outcrops all over canyons and ridge lines.
+ PARKING. Nicest disc golf parking lot ever. It's not an existing parking area being re-used, it's just for the disc golf courses. Split rail fencing, gravel, restroom, trash cans all around, professional looking signage, boulder seating, stone work, stone work, stone work...
+ PRACTICE BASKETS. Two baskets about 70 feet apart by the entrance. It's mulched and manicured like a public park. Could bring your kids or newbies just to play around here on the practice baskets. Sage shrubs and small trees and a little elevation to practice different putts and use different obstacles.
+ DESTINATION. When I make it to the area (Tahoe, N. Nevada). I will always make Stadium Course a priority. This time I was able to snowboard winter conditions and then play disc golf in the warm sun the next day!
+ LAYOUT. Each time I've played there has been new basket positions to play, keeping it fresh. And the positions offer a big variation in hole lengths and challenges. Fun to try and pick the right disc for each shot, especially with a little wind that can be a challenge to read in that canyon. The course routing makes the most of the land and the trees. Holes are mostly open but the designers obviously really thought about how to put the trees into play to frame shots and make you think. And the pinion trees and junipers are really cool looking. They are wide usually but only 15 to 30 feet tall. With no wind you 'cheat' and just go over them if you have the power, but when the wind picks up it makes you want to hit lines 'under' the wind. Only a couple of par 4s but they are definitely legit. Hole 2 is a monster in the par 4 position. I haven't carded a 3 yet. Over 700 feet where if you don't have like 400' power you get stuck at a low point. And then there's a dogleg defined by an OB line along the the edge of the power line road. Very strategic and different each time you play it. Same with hole 10 in the par 4 position.TRAILS. Holy crap, the trails are great. Makes your round go so smooth. Don't have to always look down and think about each step over and around rocks and shrubs and kicking stuff.
+ TEE PADS. Most of the pads are perfect! Wasn't sure if they were concrete or what at first. DGCR calls it stabilized aggregate. They blend and match with the natural pink rock. Mostly 12x6' I think, but they have custom shapes and sizes to fit onto slopes and ledges to make the shots the best they can be. I played on some wet pads from snow melt one round and it didn't seem to effect grip and slide at all. Pads are mostly level with the ground and surrounded by ample gravel and natural stone walls terraced into slopes. Concrete is generally best in my opinion, but these may be better. Sometimes concrete can be too grippy and these pads seem to have the right ratio of grip/slide whether wet or not! Just wonder how they wear. Some pads are starting to 'ravel' on the surface but none of them are bad enough to be a real problem. I noticed that hole starting on tee 15 has been patched. Judging from the overall course care I assume they will all be maintained.
+ TEE SIGNS. OK, yeah, easily, by far, the best I've seen, from construction to graphics. Metal signs inset into hard plastic frames. Bag hooks. No vandalism or stickers. Screws on the lower right to indicate current pin position. Legible and clear satellite imagery that make it easy to exactly locate each tree's shape and size. There are contour lines drawn over the imagery and 'elevation profiles' of every pin position!. The black metal hole number cut outs screwed onto the tee signs matched on the basket bands. Took a while for me to notice this. A designer working on the course told me it was so they could unscrew them to combine or take out holes to change the layout. There's a bunch of pin positions listed on the signs that can't be played yet until they can put in some more tees and expand the layout. Can't wait! Info about plants and animals on each sign. Honestly didn't pay attention to this at first but began to take notice. Shows how we can be so focused on our games that we don't slow down and soak in nature more. It's cool to learn the plants and trees and it's nice to learn the wildlife that's out there, especially the lizards in the summer. There's also notes on the signs that remind you of pdga rules. I think the 2 meter rule works well here with the wide and sparse trees turning them into more formidable obstacles. The reminders not to crush the brush and respect the environment are great. More courses need to emphasize this.
+ BASKETS. Red, dynamic veterans. Played on them once before passing through Bishop Ca on a public park course. They're attractive. They wrapped rope tightly around the lower poles which is real classy, and as mentioned above, the hole numbers are screwed into the chastity bands facing the tee. Can't read number well from a distance but certainly good reassurance that you have played the correct basket and now what tee is next. White arrows on the bottom of the cage point you to a trail that leads right to the next tee. Two layers of chains with separate rings for each set. Can't complain about how the baskets catch although have had some left and right kick outs I thought would stay. I feel the innova disc catchers might have a slight edge for this. Slight. The red really looks good in this high desert landscape.
+ GREENS. A lot of the baskets/pins have their own greens! This is extremely rare in disc golf. Many greens are ringed with stone, terraced and mulched with wood chips or a fine dark mulch. Creates a target, sense of satisfaction making the green and protects from the inevitable erosion you see around most disc golf baskets. Other greens that aren't mulched are set beautifully in and around rock outcrops. Yes this leads to some dinged discs (see cons below).
+ LOCATION. Easily accessible and easy to find off the main highway. Stock up with snacks and water in town (Carson City). On the outskirts overlooking the city from above.
+ CROWDS. Never been too crowded or backed up. The pitch n putt Pony course helps spread out the play. Lots of experienced players do loops (takes 30 min or less) to practice or get a quick round. But things are bound to change once more disc golfers discover it. But even then I bet early mornings will be the ticket.

Any course has room for improvement and this course is no exception. It could be way better and it sounds like there's plans to keep improving. It's a great motivation to keep returning! The cons listed here are legitimate but don't really hurt your playing experience if you know them and plan ahead.

- NO WATER. There's a well maintained porta-potty but no water fountain or water spigot. With all the work that's been done seems like there should be water. Of course just bring your own and bring enough for the heat. But would be nice to be able to rinse things off after round and re-up between rounds.
- WIND. Look at the forecast! Mornings are usually calm. Afternoons like most places are when it can kick up. But these are guidelines not absolutes. If forecast shows over 15mph or even 10mph, you might want to postpone your round. If it's crowded and windy be aware of stray discs riding the wind and be ready to call fore! But wind probably means no crowd.
- HEAT. This is unforgiving high desert and when it gets hot it gets really hot. Even though they built cool sitting areas under trees next to tees (took a few rounds to notice these spots), most of your round will be exposed without much relief.
- ROCKS. Lots of rock throughout. Discs will get dinged. You can prep a bag of 'rock discs', make smart disc selections or just accept some damage. Maybe it'll make a disc fly better for you?
- OPEN. For those who like heavily wooded courses and tight lines it might not be ideal but there's still plenty of gaps and lines to hit. For me I kinda prefer a little more open so I can see the full flight of my discs more often and work on my game.

Must play. Yes. Destination, yeah I think so, especially since it keeps getting better. There's room for improvement and it's not perfect in every way but because the thoughtful design and work at this complex and the Stadium Course is so far beyond anything else I've played, it kinda breaks the mold. I think it's a scale changer. In the current scale compared to all other courses I have to give it 5.0 ("best of the best") without hesitation from my experience. Not even a qualified 4.8 or something. If a new scale went to 5.5 maybe I'd give it 5.2 to leave room for improvements. If I play something better I may come back and lower my rating, but I'm not counting on that any time soon. The amount of work here is mind boggling for disc golf. Turtle Rock was probably my favorite course before I played here, also with a ton of work and detail. I'm West Coast, Norcal mostly as far as what I've played. So sad it burned! A similar level of care was put into it in a great alpine setting and was hoping for multiple plays before rating! Hard to put in the time to rate a course that can't be played anymore, at least for a while. I think I would have given it a 4.5 at least.